Thunderball (1965) United Artists/Action-Adventure RT: 130 minutes No MPAA Rating (mild language, violence, some sexual content, scantily clad women) Director: Terence Young Screenplay: Richard Maibaum and John Hopkins Music: John Barry Cinematography: Ted Moore Release date: December 22, 1965 (US)/December 29, 1965 (UK) Cast: Sean Connery, Claudine Auger, Adolfo Celi, Luciana Paluzzi, Rik Van Nutter, Bernard Lee, Martine Beswick, Guy Doleman, Molly Peters, Desmond Llewelyn, Lois Maxwell, Roland Culver, Earl Cameron, Paul Stassino. Opening Song: “Thunderball” by Tom Jones Box Office: $63.5M (US)
Rating: ***
Thunderball, the fourth entry in the James Bond series, was originally set to be the first, but a legal dispute between author Ian Fleming and two former collaborators, Kevin McClory and Jack Whittingham, prevented producers Harry Saltzman and Albert Broccoli from moving forward with it. They claimed Fleming based his novel on a screenplay they wrote. The lawsuit was ultimately settled out of court with McClory retaining the filming rights to the property. He’s the sole producer of Thunderball which would be remade as Never Say Never Again in 1983.
Thunderball is a solid Bond adventure mainly because SPECTRE is back with another nefarious plan up their collective sleeve. It’s the eyepatch-wearing Largo (Celi, The Agony and the Ecstasy) who comes up with an extortion scheme that will earn the evil organization millions of dollars. They hijack a plane carrying two atomic weapons during a routine training exercise and hide them in an unknown location. Then NATO receives instructions that unless SPECTRE is paid the sum of $280 million dollars (or 100 million pounds, if you prefer) within seven days, the bombs will be fired at a heavily populated area, costing millions of innocent lives.
What else can British intelligence do but put their best man on the job. That man would be James Bond 007 (Connery) who happens to be staying at the same health resort where Largo’s evil plan is put into action. After somebody makes an attempt on his life, Bond heads to the Bahamas to get close to Largo and the only way he knows how to do this is to get close to his young, beautiful girlfriend Domino (Auger, The Killing Game).
There’s a lot of action in Thunderball. It never gets boring although it does feel a little dragged out at times. Director Terence Young (Dr. No, From Russia with Love) could’ve tightened things up a bit. That’s really my only complaint. The rest of the movie is solid. It has all the defining elements of a Bond movie like the cool gadgets- e.g. a watch that doubles as a Geiger counter, an underwater camera that can take pictures in the dark by way of infrared lighting- designed by Q (Llewelyn). Bond’s CIA pal Felix Leiter (Nutter, Dynamite Joe) is back to keep his British counterpart out of danger as much as possible. He saves his ass more than once.
Of course, we can’t forget about the women. Bond ends up in bed with all of them. Would you expect anything less? Besides Domino, who turns out to be tougher than she looks, there’s Largo’s deadly and alluring hitwoman Fiona Volpe (Paluzzi, The Green Slime), clinic physiotherapist Patricia Fearing (Peters, Target for Killing) and CIA ally Paula played by Martine Beswick making her second appearance as a Bond Girl, the first being in From Russia with Love. Before all you Gen-Z youngsters set out to cancel James Bond, this was typical behavior in 60s spy movies. Let it go.
Largo is one of those Bond baddies you never forget. He’s an evil bastard! He has an affinity for sharks; he keeps a few as pets in the pool at his mansion in Nassau. He feeds them anybody who betrays him or pisses him off. This guy isn’t even above torturing and killing women. German actor Celi is deliciously evil in the role. By the way, he’s obviously the inspiration for Rob Lowe’s character in the Austin Powers movies.
Do I still need to say Connery is a great James Bond? Probably not, but I’ll say it anyway. He gets off a few good quips. After killing one of Largo’s henchmen with a speargun, he says, “I think he got the point”. Obviously, he’s the prototype for the wise-cracking action heroes of the 80s (Schwarzenegger, Willis, Norris). As I rewatch these movies in chronological order, I’m beginning to get a better understanding of the series and the character, not to mention how each actor portrays Bond differently. Connery plays him mostly straight while Roger Moore took a lighter approach to the character. I was always Team Roger, but I can also see why so many prefer Connery.
Thunderball works on many levels. It has several well-mounted action sequences including the climactic underwater fight with Largo and his men. The special effects by John Stears won the film an Oscar. John Barry’s score perfectly augments the action. The theme song by Tom Jones is great. The cat-and-mouse game between hero and villain is fun and suspenseful. In the end, Thunderball is a bolt of action and excitement.
